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If this is the worst thing happening in your life your doing pretty well.

_________________If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.

taz575

Post subject: Re: Unhappy Customer

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 3:38 am

Forum Moderator

Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:13 amPosts: 3166Location: CT

This is EXACTLY the reason that Mark does not usually take any money up front for a knife that is not in stock. He has no control over the manufacturer or when they ship, how long Customs delays the shipment, etc and is tired of people whining about it since it is out of his control. Kono gives him an estimated time for delivery that he passes on to people when they ask, but it is not guaranteed. Mark repeatedly says on here that he never knows that Kono is sending him or when. People have had stuff in Customs alone for 2 months! The makers tend to miss their delivery dates, sometimes by a long time period due to demand, weather, supplies, sickness, etc. Last time I checked, Mark has over 700 blades on order with Konosuke. He has no control over delays on their end and often only finds out what they shipped when it ships/arrives. Konosuke contracts out to various blacksmiths to do different parts of the process, which can lead to delays. Mark often has no idea when something will arrive until it's shipped; sometimes he has it in a few days and can make the deadline. Did Mark ever guarantee that it would be available in that deadline? I had a knife on order with another store, was told 3 months, finally arrived after 6+ months and wasn't up to the stores standards, so they had to send it back. Stuff like this happens in the knife market when things come from other countries!

What was so custom about the knife other than the Ichii handle?? Did you order a special grind, profile, etc or was it just the custom handle??? Mark offered a different handle (probably more expensive than the Ichii handle?) and you declined. He offered to rehandle one of the in stock knives he had for you as well and you declined. He contacted you later and offered the refund and you are still upset. Again, this is EXACTLY why Mark does not like to take money up front. He has no control over the actual delivery times of orders and doesn't like to have peoples money for that long with an open delivery date because they tend to go online and complain about it, trying to force his hand in how he deals with it and make it into a smear campaign against him. This is the real world. Mark offered 2 different ways to solve it and did communicate with you when you reached out to him. Some places just ignore the emails you send. He gave it a few more weeks to see if it would show up and when you contacted him a 3rd time, he offered the refund since you didn't want a substitute and there was no way to tell how much longer the wait will be.

He offered you a different handle, he offered to rehandle a knife that he had in stock with the handle you wanted for you to make the delivery date, but you wanted "Konosuke" to make the knife completely. At that point, you should have asked for a refund then or put the money towards something else since you knew then it would miss the delivery date and not wait another 3 weeks.

You do realize that Kono and other manufacturers buy most of their handles from a handle supplier and someone just burns/pounds the handles onto the tang willy nilly, right?? Yes, there is some exaggeration there and Kono is much better than other companies with their handle installs, but I have seen handles from many makers come skewed and not installed correctly/straight FYI. Mark and his guys pay closer attention to their handle installs than most Japanese companies do; the Japanese companies view the handle as disposable and don't really care about it or how well it was installed. Konosuke is a brand; they have blades made by several different blacksmiths/shops in the area, handles brought in from another vendor, etc. So their White #2, HD2 and HH are made in one place, the Fujiyama White made in a second place, Fujiyama Blue in a 3rd place, the Ginsan in a 4th place, Honyaki in a differnent shop, etc. You are not having a knife made by Konosuke himself, but by the brand and their vendors.

All of this happened towards the end of the year, where stores are SWAMPED with orders, emails, phone calls, last minute stuff, etc. This is the busiest time of year for any business in terms of volume and they are flat out trying to get stuff done, answer emails, deal with last minute rush orders, etc. Mark offered you 2 different ways to get the knife delivered on time, responded to your emails and offered you a refund. Now you come on to the forum and complain and whine that you weren't treated with extra special care/kid gloves, given freebies and special discounts etc because of a missed deliver date that was never guaranteed in the first place and then complain that he didn't contact you first and that you had to email Mark and he responded with 2 ways to help you out?

Heck, I have been emailing a company about Body Armor that I purchased for my job over a YEAR ago and they sent the wrong vest originally and STILL have not sent the correct vest yet almost a full year later. Every time we ask, they say the new vest is going out this week with a call tag for the old vest and nothing has showed up yet. I'd rather have a company that tells the truth like CKTG than one that just blows smoke and doesn't solve the issue.

franzb69

Post subject: Re: Unhappy Customer

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 7:02 am

Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:29 amPosts: 622Location: Philippines

in my experience custom and even semi custom knives takes months upon months or even years to finish. i got a semi production on the way that's 13 months in the making. i'm not in any rush to get it either.

the less rushed a knife is, the better the result SHOULD be.

dougmc

Post subject: Re: Unhappy Customer

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 7:11 am

Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 8:10 amPosts: 181

"Should" is the critical word in "We SHOULD be able to get it within about 6-8 weeks. Maybe less.", as in most likely 6-8 weeks, but it might be longer. I think you were adequately warned. Then there is the whole unpredictably surrounding Christmas.

Yea, it would have been better if Mark had pro-actively contacted you. But additional resources for increased customer support will mean higher prices. I'd rather have the lower prices.

Based on your experience, I will be ordering from CKTG in the future.

SteveG

Post subject: Re: Unhappy Customer

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:50 am

Forum Moderator

Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2013 12:00 pmPosts: 4585

I'm with TAZ here. I'd rather have Mark's guys install a handle to customize a knife than most Japanese makers. They'll most likely do a better job. CKTG places more emphasis on nice handles than almost any Japanese knife company.

I think Mark's offer to re-handle the knife was an perfectly adequate solution to the problem. There's nothing magical IMO in having Konosuke do the handle work. Also, IMO you're being very stubborn about the entire process. Find any vendor that would have offered to do more than the solutions that Mark offered - it'll be tough. Custom work + deadlines = potential disappointment.

Sorry for the problem Glen. Your description of what happened was pretty accurate. I have no control over timelines on custom orders and perhaps I should have made that more clear to you when I reluctantly took your order. I'm sure you remember I practically begged you to buy the same exact knife with the ho wood handle when you first contacted me. If you want me to publish all our emails about this knife I'll be happy to do it so everyone here can have a crystal clear idea of what you said and how I responded.

As for offering you a free knife, expedited shipping or a deep discount on another knife as compensation for your pain and suffering, I thought you were just using this as a way to shake me down and I was insulted by the way you worded your demand. I'm a pretty generous guy and if you had handled your communications with me in a different way I actually would have offered just such a solution. As it is an apology about the delay and a full refund was the best I could do.

Let it go...It's frustrating but you didn't get stiffed. You got a refund, no re-stock fees, no nothing. It's over. You do have a right to post a negative review. It should be brought to the attention of all future customers that custom knives could take months longer than anticipated.

I'm still having trouble understanding your anger issues. If I'm not mistaken the Konsuke HD you wanted was the same blade Mr. Richmond offered you but with a different handle?

You do realize a bling handle makes re-sale value of an otherwise stock knife much higher? You should also be very angry at the USPS,UPS,Fedex,DHL and every other logistics company. Sometimes they just don't arrive when expected.

Are you going to put your money where your mouth is and boycott every company that has been late on product delivery? Might I suggest you travel direct to Japan if you want it now, go get it

MowgFace wrote:The bottom line is, I paid IN FULL, Paid IN ADVANCE, and Mark held my money for 13 weeks for nothing but a refund. No knife, No notification, No consolation knife, No Christmas present, No discount, NOTHING.

Always someone wanting something for nothing.

_________________If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.

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